Disa Smiley Face (Pink) and Disa Firebolt (Red)

[Paph_LdyMacBeth]

That's a great display John! I am glad to hear you are having success sometimes the most enjoyable thing about growing orchids is the learning process (just ignore the 12,000 in losses)

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[Jaljala]

Very nice Disa,
I am hopping to try these one day when I have room for them.
There is a producer in Britany, France who specializes in Disa. They made fabulous hydribs: http://pack.aspeco.net/lacanopee/1684/boutique/col314/les_disa314.htm

 

[Erythrone]

Magnifique!!!!!!

 

[newbud]

Any chance of seeing the setup you have to keep these beautiful plants alive?

 

[cnycharles]

wally orchard in oregon, usa has disas, though this summer the greenhouse owner decided to round-up weeds and it killed many plants . wally did tell me that he has many seed-based seedlings in the lab but it still hurts to lose prized plants. also asuka orchids in california, usa has disas as well as others that i don't remember off of the top of my head.

 

[Ozpaph]

lovely flowers.
sound like the kind of orchids to grow when you've mastererd all the 'ungrowable' paph species.

 

[monocotman]

For 'us' in maritime climates like the UK they seem to be fairly straight forward. I've managed to grow and flower them without any extra heat.
Just sat in rainwater with the carnivorous plants with the odd feed.
Lost them in the bad winter of 2010/11.
Check out 'Dave Parkinson plants' for a grower in the UK who only grows this genus. His displays at shows are amazing,
Regards,
David

 

[biothanasis]

Fantastic flowers!!! Great growing tips!!! Thanks a million John.

I read that these were difficult to grow, so I hesitated a lot to get a couple and try, but your growing advice really encouraged me into trying them...

Thank again!!!!

 

[Tom499]

I have found Disa easy to grow, but that is mostly due to the advantage of where I live of course.

Keeping them cool in the UK is easy, and as long as they are brought in when it gets freezing they do just fine along with my CPs.

 

[John M]

Any chance of seeing the setup you have to keep these beautiful plants alive?

I'll take a photo this weekend and post it here for you.

 

[newbud]

Thanks John, I'm really curious.

 

[John M]

Thanks John, I'm really curious.

Here are a couple photos of my Disa growing area. It's VERY crude, low tech and NOT pretty; but, it has provided me with the best consistent results so far with Disas. I live in a very old farm house and the Disas are in the basement where it's about 60*F all the time, winter and summer. The plants are on an elevated bench that is 2' wide x 8' long. The entire thing is surrounded by sheets of heavy duty tinfoil that I can fold up and out of the way when I want to access the plants. There are four, 8', daylight fluorescent tubes lighting the plants, which are quite close to the bulbs. When all the tinfoil is down, containing the light and heat generated by the fixtures, it is very bright and about 10* warmer inside than it is in the rest of the room. I grow in a mix of 2 parts perlite and 1 part peatmoss, in clay pots and each one stands in it's own shallow tray of water. I use R.O. water with about 5% raw well water added back in to provide a little bit of minerals.

Here's another Disa Firebolt that has just come into bloom.

BTW: It was just pointed out to me that the pink ones look an aweful lot like Disa 'Rosy Face', othewsied known as Disa Unidiorosa 'Rosy Face'. So, I checked and it seems that my supplier originally made a type-o which I continued with. Those pinks are actually Unidiorosa 'Rosy Face', not "Smiley Face".

 

[paphioboy]

Gorgeous! Great job, John...